Gaucho Serenade (1940)

To me, this movie is perfection.

A different way of telling a story

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Good story, out of the ordinary for Gene and Frog, where they're driving home from New York City (a rodeo appearance there in Madison Square Garden), and by sheer chance wind up picking up two sisters who are fleeing the wedding the older doesn't want to go to (as the bride), and a young boy who thinks he's visiting his father's "Rancho San Quentin." Of course, his dad is actually in the prison of that name.The plot isn't "hard to understand" nor will it have you "scratching your head," as other reviewers who love to denigrate Gene Autry's movies have said. And watch a climactic scene where Gene is chasing a speeding train on Champion. Aboard, the bad guys are trying to kidnap the young boy. Autry makes his own transfer from Champ's back to the train, climbing up a ladder attached to the side of a freight car. And it's obvious that it's really Gene; not a case of "Autry CLAIMED to have made the transfer," as another negative reviewer once wrote.All in all, a darn good flick, with comedy, action, and plenty of good songs by Gene and others. I highly recommend it.

I'm guessing that not a whole lot of thought went into putting the story together for this picture. There are just so many disparate elements to it that if you're paying close attention you'll just wind up scratching your head. It starts off right away when Gene and Frog find they don't have enough money to book passage on a ship to California from New York, so they wind up driving. Now why would they want to do that anyway, huh?It continues from there when a young teenager schooled in London hooks up with the boys to join his father, not knowing that the San Quentin he's looking for is a state penitentiary and not a ranch. June Storey's character is on the run from one wedding ceremony and eloping to another with Smith Bellew, who doesn't even say 'Hi' to her when she arrives with Gene later on!! See what I mean?Now don't get me wrong, if you like Gene's pictures this one's as entertaining as any of them, offering a whole host of musical numbers and a couple of cute young ladies (June Storey and Mary Lee) to complement the action, but at times it almost feels like an Abbott and Costello flick with all the zany stuff going on. Somehow the Gaucho Serenade of the title is shoe-horned into the story when the whole gang finds themselves at a Mexican cantina after getting a flat tire, and the only way Gene can come up with the dough to have it fixed is to win a talent show. But the grand prize is the equivalent of twenty five dollars in groceries, so they have to rely on Frog's second place showing - he wins a used tire!! so they can replace the flat!!Well it goes on like this to an eventual satisfactory conclusion with youngster Ronnie Willoughby (Clifford Severn) reuniting with his Dad and the villains put in their place, but it all came together in rather haphazard fashion. I'll say this though, and I never really thought about if before, but Duncan Renaldo came up with a clever translation for Frog Millhouse's name in Spanish - Rana Casa Molino! Now there's a trivia question that will get you bonus points.

One of Gene Autry's most amusing films, all the better for taking the star out of his familiar horse opera surroundings. Of course, Autry is accompanied on his journey by usual sidekicks Smiley Burnette and Champion "The Wonder Horse," but the fact is that it takes him across the country with a pair of engaging girls. One of them (Mary Lee, I think) is sort of a country-western version of Judy Garland and the other plays an engaging young heiress on the lam from marriage. There's also a boy running from mobsters who try to kidnap him to blackmail his father into not testifying against their boss. There's a lot of funny situations, of course some fast riding and straight shooting, plus lots of pretty good songs. Pure escape and worth the trip.

As Gene and Frog cross the USA they meet up with 2 sets of stowaways, two sisters running away from a wedding ceremony and a boy being chased by criminals. As Gene sings several pleasant songs the movie moves at a rapid pace never dragging and includes a great railroad hijacking sequence. The new print from the Autry museum is perfect in every way and makes this movie indeed a serenade As b-westerns go this a 10.